This unit consists of an introduction and five student
lessons (BLM 1-5).

Children need not do the entire unit to benefit. It’s
well worth while to do, say, the introduction and one
or two of the lessons you think your students would
most enjoy. If you choose to do all five lessons, you
might decide to do one a day for a week, or one a
week for a month.
The time required will depend on your objectives.
Each lesson can stand on its own, if necessary. Or, the
unit can be enhanced to become the theme of a multidisciplinary study.

1 Each Student Lesson is provided in BLM format.
2 Each lesson is organized around the following
headings:
• Warm-up
• Are you Ready?
• Get Set
• Go!

3

• Cross the Finish Line
Each Go! section involves the student in an activity
or in making something: a model, a picture, a chart.
In most cases, what students make can be taken
home to share with their families.

4 The unit is very much self-contained. Students
should be able to progress through each lesson with
minimal teacher guidance. It is suggested that a class
discussion follow each lesson to wrap up any student
questions.
Y O U D O N ’ T N E E D T O B E A N E X P E RT

All the information you and your students really need
is either in this package or in the box. There’s no need
for the teacher to do extra research. At the same time,
there is plenty of opportunity for students to do extra
research.
Y O U D O N ’ T N E E D S P E C I A L M AT E R I A L S

You won’t have to prepare or scrounge for materials.
Most activities don’t require anything more than pens,
pencils, paper and tape. Everything else you’d need at
school is in the box. And there are numerous opportunities for children to share activities with family by taking the lesson page home and interacting with adults.

Y O U D O N ’ T N E E D A L O T O F P R E PA R AT I O N T I M E

We’ve tried to keep this teacher guideline as concise
and concrete as possible, so you won’t have to wade
through page after page to get to the heart of the
matter. We’ve avoided jargon, and chosen the simplest possible language and the tightest possible format. The same is true of the Student Lessons. Note
that Tips and Answers are provided. To save space, the
answers are written as simply as possible. You may
want your students to answer in full sentences.
THE LESSONS ARE MEANT FOR INDEPENDENT WORK

The five lessons are designed to help students learn
how to learn from reference materials, from reading,
from working together to answer questions, from
connecting the learning that takes place in one lesson
to the next. But children this young will likely need a
lot of support.

Te a c h e r ’s G u i d e l in e – G r a d e 2
L E S S O N 1 Instructions And Script For The Circulation Game
This game is designed (i) to give students a concrete
understanding of what circulation means, (ii) to help
them learn how blood circulates in their own bodies;
and (iii) to help them appreciate the complexity of the
circulatory system, all without memorizing a lot of
terms. As teacher, you will play the role of “tour
guide.” That is, you will read the instructions out loud
so students are free to take part in the game. Here are
some of the ideas this model can convey:

2 . Blood picks up oxygen from the lungs.
3 . The heart muscle gives the blood a push.
4 . Blood picks up food from (or near) the stomach.
5 . Blood goes around the body, giving away food
and oxygen to various body parts.
6 . The drops run out of food and oxygen by the time
they’ve made a complete trip around the body.

7 . The drops also run out of “oomph.” They need a
new push.

8 . The blood has to come back to the heart for
another push.
Like all models, this one is limited. It’s something
like the real thing, but not exactly alike. It’s meant
to help us understand, but it doesn’t try to show
every possible concept. That’s fine. This is a good
starting point, and it is enough for now. The rest
can wait for Lessons 2-4.
T E A C H E R P R E PA R AT I O N

• See the following page for detail of setting up and
playing the game.
• Photocopy a class set of BLM 1 to give out after the game.
READ is your cue to read aloud from the text that follows.
TEACHER is your cue to DO without reading out loud.
INTRODUCTION

READ There’s a miracle liquid inside your body! It’s
your blood, and it keeps you alive, but not all by itself.
To discover how, we’ll play the Circulation game.
Instead of a game board, we’ll use [the whole classroom, the hall, the gym] as a Circulation theme park.
In the game, you’ll play different roles. Some of you
will play the part of blood drops. Some will play the
part of hands, feet, stomach, lungs, heart.
WA R M - U P

TEACHER Get students to help you set up the game

space, prepare tickets, put number tags on the engineers, and set up the tables. See next page for details.
ARE YOU READY ?

I’m going to be your tour guide. Let’s visit the various
stops in this circulation theme park. I’ll tell you what
they are and what they can do.
Lung Table READ: Lungs are hollow, thin-walled
pouches-like a pair of bags with only one opening.
They bring air into your chest and let it out again.
TEACHER: Get oxygen dispensers to take their place.
READ: Blood in the lung walls takes oxygen from air.
Heart Table READ: The heart is a strong muscle with
four hollow cubicles. The muscle squeezes to push or
pump blood out of the cubicles. TEACHER: Get engineers to take their place.
Stomach Table READ: The stomach is only one part of
a long tube that passes all the way through your
body. It breaks food into bits small enough for blood
to carry. TEACHER: Get food dispensers to take their
place.
READ: The lungs and the heart and the stomach stay in
the same place at all times. But blood is a liquid. It moves
all around your body. Where are the blood drops?
Blood Drops READ: Your job is to deliver useful materials. So you drops are going to move around this theme
park, just like real blood moves around your body.
GET SET

READ: It’s time for a trial run. I’ll pretend to be a
blood drop, so all you other blood drops can see the
way to go.
TEACHER: Exaggerate the bounce and the gradual
slowdown. When you get back, ask students what
they think the blood drop would do now. Spend a
minute or two eliciting the idea that it would keep on
moving. The heart never stops, and neither does the
blood.
G O!

READ: Okay blood drops, go! One at a time. No shoving, and hang onto your tickets.
TEACHER: When the first drop gets back to the lungs,
say something like: Okay blood drop, you’re back to
the start. What are you going to do now?. Don’t give
up! Grab some oxygen tickets, go back to the heart,
and CIRCULATE! Let the drops do 4-5 laps before stopping the game. If there’s time, you might want to let
drops swap roles with the fixed organs.

1. Where did the blood start out? Draw a star *on
the spot.
2. Where did the blood go?
• Start at the star
• Draw arrows
• Show where the blood went

Hand

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ACCURATE PATH. DON’T
EXPECT KIDS TO REALIZE THAT BLOOD GOES INTO
THE HEART, BUT PAST THE STOMACH. Teacher may
want to review the path with the kids and leave
arrows on the ground so kids can visualize it.

Head

Hand

Lung
* S TA RT

Heart

Stomach

Foot

3. Look at the head box. What did the blood do
there? Circle the answer.
The blood gave something.
The blood got something.
4. What did the blood give or get? (Two things: write
on the blank lines.)
(a) _________FOOD_____________
(b) _________OXYGEN__________
5. Think up a sentence to write in the head box.
The blood gave food and oxygen.

Foot

6. Go to another box. Think up your own sentence.
Write it in the box.
7. Keep going until every box has a sentence in it.
FEET, HANDS: The blood GAVE food and oxygen.
LUNGS: The blood GOT oxygen.
STOMACH: The blood GOT food.
HEART: The blood got a PUSH. (Many kids may be
unclear on this. Point it out.)

Use Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
3.
a) List the names of the four food groups.

Start with Rule 1. You will need:
• a copy of student worksheet 2
• blank paper
• copy of Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating
ARE YOU READY?

1. Start with what you already know. What is food?
Most students of this age will give an operational
definition, such as “Food is the stuff I swallow when
I eat.”
What does food do for your body?
Answers will vary. Look for “health” “energy” “body
building” “growth”
What does food do for your heart?
Answers will vary. Look for “energy” “makes it
strong,”“makes it healthy”
GET SET

2. There are so many different foods! Think about the
kinds you know. Use Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy
Eating.
• Draw a “plate” on your blank paper.
• Look at the Food Guide.
• Which Food Guide food do you like best? Draw it
on your “plate.”
Answers will vary
• What is your absolute favourite food? Draw it on
your “plate.”
Answers will vary
• Talk to your classmates about foods they like. Add
one of their favourites to the meal on your
“plate.”
Answers will vary. Encourage students to “try” someone else’s food, if only to draw it.

6. A balanced meal needs foods from all four food
groups. Why?
Different food groups provide different nutrients. To
meet your nutrient needs, you need to select a variety
of foods from each of the four food groups.
• Check the meal on your plate. Is it balanced?
The meal should include at least one food from each
food group.
• If not, draw a food or foods on your plate to
balance the meal.
7. Turn your “plate” page over and draw a line in the
middle to split the page in half. On the top half of the
page, draw a picture showing how you would feel
after you ate the meal on your plate.
The picture should show a happy, energetic person.
8. On the bottom half of the page, draw a picture
showing how you think your heart would feel after
eating the meal on your plate.
The picture should show a happy heart.

ARE YOU READY?
1. Start with what you already know.
• What is food?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
• What does food do for your body?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

b) List examples of foods from the four food groups.
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
c) List examples of foods from the Other Foods category.
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

• What does food do for your heart?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

GET SET
2. There are so many different foods! Think about
the kinds you know. Use Canada’s Food Guide to
Healthy Eating.
• Draw a “plate” on your blank paper.
• Look at the Food Guide.
• Which Food Guide food do you like best? Draw it
on your “plate.”
• What is your absolute favourite food? Draw it on
your “plate.”
• Talk to your classmates about foods they like.
Add one of their favourites to the meal on your
“plate.”

GO!

CROSS THE FINISH LINE
6. A balanced meal needs foods from all four food
groups. Why?
______________________________________________
• Check the meal on your plate. Is it balanced?
______________________________________________
• If not, draw a food or foods on your plate to
balance the meal.

7. Turn your ‘plate’ page over and draw a line in the
middle to split the page in half. On the top half of the
page, draw a picture showing how you would feel
after you ate the meal on your plate.
8. On the bottom half of the page, draw a picture
showing how you think your heart would feel after
eating the meal on your plate.

sinks in (contracts)
• Can you see when other people are breathing in
and out?

Breathe smoke-free air
Stay in your group. You will need:
• copy of student worksheet 3

If you watch carefully, you can see them breathe in. It’s
harder to see them breathe out.

• a red pencil and a regular pencil
• a piece of blank paper
• a Heart Fact Page
• a Smoking poster

GO!

4. Use the rules in the box below to make a paper
lung.

ARE YOU READY?

This procedure is very simple and easy to do. Most
grade 2 students can relate to it at some level. All will
hear it breathe. Not all will be able to “see” the
oxygen push through to the blood vessels, but that’s
okay. The experience of making air compartments
(rooms) is still worthwhile.

1. Where are your lungs?
chest
2. How does air get into them?
breathing
GET SET

3. Breathe in deeply. What does your chest do?
pushes out (expands)
How to Make a Paper Lung
• Scribble red lines on the paper.

How to Make a Paper Lung Work
• Hold it up, clean side facing you.

• Fold the paper in half over and over again.

• Push the lung (paper) in. Listen to it breathe.

• Unfold it. Count the little “rooms.”

• Pull the lung out. Listen to it breathe.

Explore a Paper Lung
• The paper has rooms, like a real lung.

• In a real lung, air pushes on the walls.

• But a real lung has millions of tiny “rooms”
to trap air with.

• The air has oxygen. Picture oxygen pushing through the, paper
right into the red lines. Can you see it in your mind?

• Paper is thin, like a real lung’s walls.

• That’s how blood collects oxygen. The oxygen pushes
through the lung’s thin walls, right into the vessels.

• The paper is clean like a lung’s inside.

• And air is pushing on the paper lung.

• The red lines are like blood vessels.
• Blood collects oxygen from the lung.
Make a Smoker’s Lung
• X stands for sticky tar blobs. Make a black
X in every second “room.”

Operate the smoker’s lung
• Count: How many “rooms” can let oxygen
through? How many can’t?

CROSS THE FINISH LINE

6. Why should you try to stay smoke free?

5. Why does your heart need oxygen?

Poster says tobacco kills people. And it has nicotine,
which is addictive
7. What could you do if somebody tried to give you a
cigarette. Wrte or draw on the back of this page.

for energy to pump blood
• How does your heart get oxygen?
blood carries it from lungs
• What could happen to your heart if the air you
breathe is not clean?
Heart would get less oxygen.

• Press the disc against your chest. Move it until Heartbeat when I wake up __________
your partner hears a lubDUB sound.
Heartbeat when I’m sitting __________
• Partner: Count lubDUBs for 1 min. Write the
number in the heartbeat chart.

They’ll likely have to guess. Total exercise is seldom a
contentious domestic issue.
c) How many hours a week do you spend watching
TV?

6. Do you have to tell your heart to beat faster when
you run?
No
Why or why not?
heart has its own pacemaker
7. What will likely happen to your heartbeat as you
get older?
slow down (based on heartbeat facts)
8. What is your favourite physical activity?
answers will vary

They may know to the minute, as total TV time is often
a contentious issue.
9. From the poster, list the advantages of being physically fit. Write on the back of this page.
More energy, heart gets stronger, fun, feel good, sleep
better, healthy body weight.
Did you know about all of them?
Likely not.

6. Do you have to tell your heart to beat faster
when you run? ________________________________
• Why or why not?
______________________________________________

8. What is your favourite physical activity?
______________________________________________
b) How many hours a week?
______________________________________________
c) How many hours a week do you spend watching TV?
______________________________________________

7. What will likely happen to your heartbeat as you
get older?
______________________________________________

9. From the poster, list the advantages of being
physically fit. Write on the back of this page.
Did you know about all of them?

No one expects emergencies. But what if a heart or
stroke happened to one of the adults at your home?
What if you were the only one there? Would you
know what to do? A Personal Emergency Plan can
help.

A R E Y O U R E A D Y?

1. Look at the Heart Facts Sheet.
• What is a heart attack?
damage to heart muscle because blood got blocked
• What is a stroke?

G O!

2. Read down... take home.

Damage to brain because blood got blocked
What 911 Might Ask

How Would You Answer?

What is your name? (First and last).

Your name:

Kids are often kept surprisingly ignorant of family health matters.
CROSS THE FINISH LINE

It’s a good idea to discuss these questions as a class.
This suggestion is made because a group of three may
not have sufficient collective experience to make good
suggestions. In an entire class, at least a few students
are likely to have had some family experience with
heart attacks or strokes, or other medical emergencies
such as asthma.
3. a) Normally, you would not give personal information to a stranger over the phone. Why is it okay to
give it to a 911 operator?
You have to trust somebody in an emergency, and your
community has provided a service that works hand in
hand with police, fire service and hospitals. If you can’t
trust 911...who can you trust?
b) What would you do if the operator asked you to
unlock the front door, or leave the house?
You should always do what the operator says. The
paramedics can’t get in easily if the door is locked. If
the operator thinks there is a gas leak in the house,
anyone who can still move should get out promptly.
But don’t ever hang up the phone until the operator
tells you to. The operator may want you to keep
reporting on the patient’s condition.

4. At first, the adults you live with might not want to
give you the information you need for your Personal
Emergency Chart.
Some adults have been brought up to think of their
age as a kind of secret. Elderly folks especially think of
some illnesses as shameful or embarrassing. But every
responsible family member should be able to help all
the others. Adults like to think they’ll always be in control, but they are more likely to have a heart attack or
stroke than kids are.
How could you convince them?
Make them watch an episode of ’911’ on TV. Discuss
the importance as a family.
5. Sick or injured people who appear unconscious
may still be able to hear. Why should you keep talking to the person until help arrives?
The sick person is probably frightened. In fact, a sense
of doom is a common symptom of an oncoming heart
attack. The sound of a familiar voice that says help is
coming can keep the sick person from panicking.

GET SET
Emergencies can be upsetting. But what if a heart or
stroke happened to one of the adults at your home?
Would you know what to do? A Personal Emergency
Plan can help.
GO!

2. Read down the left side of the box. Think about
the questions 911 might ask.
• In the right side of the box, start a Personal
Emergency Chart to take home.

What 911 Might Ask
What is your name? (First and last).

How Would You Answer?
Your name:

What is the street address?

My street address:

The nearest large intersection?

The nearest major intersection

Who is sick or hurt? (First and last name.)

Do you know the last names of all adults at your home?

How old is the sick or hurt person?

Do you know how old everyone is?

Is the person awake? Collapsed? Breathing?

Can you tell if a collapsed person is breathing?

How long has he or she been sick or hurt?

What if you weren’t there at the start?

Has anything like this happened before?

Do your adults have any health problems?

Does the person take any kind of medicine?

Can you find out if your adults need medicine?

CROSS THE FINISH LINE
3. Should you tell things to strangers on the phone?
• Why is it okay to talk to 911?
• What would you do if 911 asked you to open the
door, or leave the house?

4. At first, the adults you live with might not want to
tell you about their health problems or medicine.
How could you explain why you need to know?

5. Sick or injured people who appear unconscious
may still be able to hear. Why should you keep talking to the person until help arrives?

BLM 5

GRADE 2 HEART FACT SHEET
active play
Makes you breathe deeply. Any game that makes you
take in extra air.
blood vessels
Long, thin, stretchy tubes. They carry blood around
your body. If all your blood vessels were stretched out,
they could go around the world nearly four times!
blood
Body liquid that holds oxygen and food. Your blood
could fill a big milk jug.
circulatory system
A set of parts that move blood through the body. This
system has a pump (heart) and tubes (blood vessels).
cubicle
Room-like hollow in the heart. Its two door-like openings let blood in and out.

or margarine, but still contain a lot of fat. Chocolate
is over half hidden fat. Potato chips have even more.
less healthy fat
Fat from animal foods. Eating too much of it can form
a crust inside blood vessels. Butter is a less healthy fat.
lungs
Hollow, thin-walled pouches inside chest; They absorb
oxygen from air.
muscle food
Food that builds body parts such as muscle (e.g.,
beans, milk).
muscle
Body part that can exert force to make things move.
You can move your arm bones by squeezing your arm
muscle tight.
nicotine
Nerve poison found in tobacco.

energy
Makes things move. Your body gets energy from a
sugary fuel in your blood. But oxygen is needed to
burn the fuel.

oxygen
Material found in air. Your body uses it to “burn”
food (fuel) and get energy.

fatty food
Stores a lot of energy in a small space. Sunflower oil
and butter are fatty.

pacemaker
Electric switch in heart. It speeds up or slows down
your heartbeat.

fitness
Means muscles are strong and can work a long time.
The joints bend freely.

plaque
Crust that sticks inside blood vessels. It slows down or
stops blood.

food
Eatable “stuff” that your body can use.

power food
The body’s main source of sugary fuel. Rice is a power food.

healthier fat
Fat from plant foods. It is less likely to form a crust
inside blood vessels. Sunflower oil is a healthier fat.

second-hand smoke
Gets into room air from burning cigarettes or from
what smokers breathe out.

heart attack
Damage to heart so it can’t pump blood to rest of
body. It happens when crusted blood vessels stop
food and oxygen from getting to the heart muscle.

stomach
Helps the body by breaking food into small bits.
Other body parts help the stomach. Food must be in
small bits to get into blood vessels.

heart
Muscle with four hollow chambers; they let blood in
and push blood out

stroke
Damage to brain so it can’t send orders to rest of
body. It happens when crusted blood vessels stop
food and oxygen from getting to the brain.